Julia Gillard quail menu: how a fake sexist bird and her gay lover flew around the world

AUSTRALIAN Prime Minister Julia Gillard has recovered from the salamists sandwich tossers to be affronted by a whole menu of food. On the Reef & Beef menu at a Liberal party fundraiser held at the Richards and Richards restaurant on March 28 was a fried quail meal consisting of “small breasts, huge thighs and a big red box“.

But the menu was a fake. It wasn’t the official one.

But when the fake menu was tweeted by David Carter @chef09876, the news went global.

When asked for more information, Carter said he has “no idea” if the menu was on any tables. You see, he “wasn’t even working there at the time”. His position had been “terminated“.

Carter went on the telly:

But the menu wasn’t real. The owner of the eatery wrote to Mal Brough. Joe Richards said it was meant as private joke. The menu was never distributed at the $1000 a head fundraiser. He wrote:

Dear Mal,

I have been following the rubbish that has been on the news today. I would like to confirm what actually happened: there were never any menus distributed on the tables or in the restaurant. I created a mock menu myself as a light-hearted joke, however as I said I never produced them for public distribution. Unfortunately a staff member saw the mock menu, and unbeknownst to myself, posted it on their facebook. It now appears that a third party for political reasons has distributed it, yet I can reassure you that no such menu was distributed on the night. As you know no one at the dinner was privy to such a menu, and it is so unfortunate that an in-house joke between myself and my son has caused you great problems and embarrassment.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Wednesday accused the opposition of a pattern of misogynist behavior, branding a menu for a party fundraiser “grossly sexist and offensive” after it featured a quail dish named after her that offered “small breasts” and “huge thighs.”

The Australian prime minister has again been forced to confront sexism in the country’s politics after it emerged that the menu at an opposition fundraising dinner offered “Julia Gillard quail … with small breasts, huge thighs and a big red box.”

Wow! So much reporting based on the tweet of a part-time chef, who got it wrong.

As for the sexism, well 6PR DJ Howard Sattler asked Gillard if her partner Tim Mathieson was gay.

A veteran Australian radio host has been suspended for asking Prime Minister Julia Gillard on air whether her partner is gay.

Sattler: “Tim’s gay?”

Gillard: “Well, that’s absurd.”

Sattler: “But you hear it. He must be gay – he’s a hairdresser … It’s not me saying it – it’s what people say.”

This is a pointless article containing half the facts. You claim to be exposing prejudice, inhumanity, stuff shirts, misogyny, a biased news agenda, conformity, misanthropy, spin. You just added to that pile by not researching your story correctly. Or maybe you typed it out on you phone whilst on the toilet. That’s how it reads.

Anoraks

What was missed? The news media ran with a story that was based on a fake?